Next stop for the day of music, aka Music day, was to be Snafkin. I was finished at the Osaka School of music earlier than I thought so I had time to drop by the house and leave off my mini amp before going to Snafkin. I ran into LZ there at home, she was leaving for Snafkin. As we had friends coming she went ahead to meet them while I took a short break and lighten my load of equipment.

I grabbed a later train and arrived at the Sea side Cafe , aka : Snafkin. Almost everyone was there. I was surprised to see my Japanese Sensei there with her husband. I did the round of greetings to those I knew. and the owner formally welcome me. There was a Jazz trio playing when I arrived. They continued for a while before taking a break. I was impressed with the Sax player, she had a good tone. I am not big on tenor Sax but she had a good sound. I hope to do some Jamming with her another time. Other than being a smoker, she has possibilities for some musical collaboration.

Anywho the trio took a break. There was some misc things going on during that time. One of which was the owner told the female singer who I was and did, she then asked me to play Bass on a couple of songs. I really did not want to, not songs I knew, but since there was a chart I figured since she was pushing me, I would try it. I should have stuck with no. More on that later…

There was some misc talk, about this and that with misc people, then my Sakuhachi Sensei made ready to perform. One of my Kyudo Sempai was suppose to play guitar with him, however, he is pretty shy and requested the other Guitar player from the Trio to play along with Sensei. Both agreed to the change an Sensei started. It was rough going as the guitar player got lost a few time and played the wrong cords. They Did make it through the song. It was so so. It was just regular people and not a paid gig, so it was fine. Next song I was requested to sing along with sensei playing Shakuhachi. The song “my way”. I was hesitant. However I was sort of interested to do a different kind of song so I agreed since the words were there in English. I think it turned out well. I wish I had a recording of it to tell For sure. However everyone seemed to like it and Sensei made a big fuss over my singing of it. Kind of embarrassing .

Next up was the Doc and myself, we did three blues songs. I wanted to do one more and bring in the Sax player, but the hired trio needed to play again. They did one song then asked me to sit in with them. I played soft since I was unsure. I followed as well as I could then switch from reading to just ear when I got lost. Being that it was Jazz, it did not sound too bad…I guess, mostly I faked it. I will not do it again, unless it is a song I know.

Slowly things started to wind down. Aoki Sensei (sailing and Zen master) came by with a new employee. As it turns out she played Okinawan Shamisen. I asked her to play with My Shakuhachi sensei, she agreed. However that did not work out because of the tuning. So she did a couple of songs with a guitar player, the Snafkin owner this time, and sang a couple of songs. Turns out she had been to Snafkin before. As things were wrapping up, the owner, who was playing guitar with the Shamisen woman, said he wanted me to play harp with them. They were going to do a Japanese “Blues”. I said ok. It actually turned out ok, too bad there was no recording.

Over all it was fun evening. It was a long day, and I had to work teaching a sailing class the next day, however it was worthwhile. I got to meet some new people. I want to get with the Shamesen and Sax player again sometime. There was also a Jazz pianist there. This maybe a local gold mine for me to find other local musicians.

My Kyudo Sempai asked me if I was busy on a certain day next week. He my other sempai and my Shakuhachi Sempai were going to get together to play. I did not know what they had in mind, but I was “down” (slag = ok) for it.